Watching ‘Suicide Squad’ Feels Like You’ve Died And Gone To 2002, But In A Good Way?

Long before Eminem’s voice faded in, spitting “two trailer park girls go round the outside, round the outside, round the outside” during a scene in which pig-tailed supervillain Harley Quinn coquettishly flirt-threatens a group of soldiers, Suicide Squad already felt distinctly W Bush-era. It’s a trip to 2002, right down to the Eminem songs, a time when tats were tight, pant cuffs were loose, daddy issues were strength, and we were all a little messed up inside, dog, with these messed up feelings we couldn’t quite explain. It’s the most gnü-metal superhero movie to date, dumb and empty and sorta greasy, but never dull, and thank God for that.

In 2016, earnestness is a standard feature of superhero movies (or whatever you want to call this one, please don’t “actually” me, bro), in which filmmakers take great pains to convince you that the story, at least thematically, is about real issues affecting the world and we should care, you guys!Suicide Squad, by contrast, clearly enjoys the obnoxious goth kid dress-up aspects of the superhero genre more than the opportunities for profound metaphor. It’s less a college kid waxing philosophical about the world’s problems than a townie rapping along to Papa Roach at a kicker before his moms comes home. Broken home, brooooken hooooooooome…

And you know what? I kind of liked it. In the current climate of superhero movies firmly ensconced in their own metaphorical assholes, it was refreshing to watch one that just really wanted me to check out its new tribal tat. How often do you see someone using a 15-year-old Eminem song as a pump-up jam? David Ayer is back, he’s on the rag, he’s ovulating… (Full disclosure, I like that song.)

Okay, so the Suicide Squad, they’re, like, real bad dudes, right? They range from a sociopathic hitman with a heart of gold (?) — Deadshot, played by Will Smith — and a psychiatrist turned murderous S&M sub (Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, changed by her exposure to the Joker), to a flammable cholo with skull tats, a crocodile man who loves BET, and an Australian dude whose entire power seems to consist of being Australian (played by Jai Courtney, the Jai-est of Courtneys).

Oh, I almost forgot the archaeologist, played by 23-year-old fashion model Cara Delevingne, whose body has been possessed by a pre-Columbian demon witch she can summon by whispering “Enchantress.” At which point she turns coal black and gains the power to teleport and read minds. SO. TIGHT. BRO. It’s like an ad for GOTH BEER, where one sip turns the head cheerleader’s hair black, her eyeliner smudged, and her fishnets ripped, and everyone parties like the rave from The Matrix 2. Isn’t being bad, like, so good? Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?

For whatever reason, these super vills are all being held at a secret super max detention center where they’ve apparently been sentenced to a lifetime of humorous taunting from a prison guard played by Ike Barinholtz. He treats them sort of like Kevin Arnold’s older brother in Wonder Years. Want some food, butthead? (*dumps food on floor*) Haha, so’s your face!

Can you imagine if Heath Ledger had spent a whole year telling us how CrAzEeEe he got playing the joker, how fucking method the whole thing was? Thank god he just shut up, did a great job, took pills and died.

Johnny Bravo…jealous man! Gotta pony up $19.50 for 3D or $23 for IMAX it’s ridiculous. Might still get suckered in for this one, it’s playing around the corner & looks like there’s a chance it could be entertaining but we’ll see…

I don’t think Marvel is trying to be Radiohead. More like Coldplay. They sell tons of tickets, and some of their early stuff kinds of rocks, but they traded in the electric guitars for pianos and unnecessary scarves a few years ago.

This was a lot a fun to read (especially given how dour the other reviews have been). I am curious if the amount of comments on Mike Ryan’s own review spurned this (especially given the contrast from tone to even content) for these reviews.

I grew up in the absolute peak of butt-rock (2000-2003,before Garage rock made a come-back and Franz Ferdinand reminded people to have fun), and while I’m a bit embarrassed about some of it, I remain an unrepentant Puddle of Mudd fan.

@Verbal Kunt
Eh, everything is built on plagiarism. If it weren’t for someone plagiarizing the Honeymooners we wouldn’t have the Flintstones. If someone hadn’t ripped off Sergeant Bilko, there’d be no Top Cat. Huckleberry Hound, Chief Wiggum, Yogi Bear? Hah! Andy Griffith, Edward G. Robinson, Art Carney. Your honor, you take away our right to steal ideas, where are they gonna come from?

I feel like a hypocrite when I tell people that the radio rock of my generation not only sucked, but was the last of popular rock before electronics took over the current stage we’re in. Truth is, I do have some of that stuff on my old workout playlists, and I do enjoy listening to them sometimes. Mostly Linkin Park, but I know some Limp, Papa Roach, et al got in there as well.

@Vice4Life – I don’t think its hypocritical as long as you admit to it. We all do it with movies and TV shows, games if you play them. For whatever reason, most people take music more seriously, as if its an actual personal statement. Fuck that. I don’t care if Linkin Park is schlock, its schlock I enjoy.

i hate all of you for even joke liking the shit show music of the late 90’s early 2000’s. i worked at ‘fast forwar’ in the mall around that time. it was my own personal hell. the store and the music on the loud speaker. every damn day those songs. i was the snobby rob gordon kid back then who knew everything and hated everything. now you’re telling me they made a superhero movie out of those jnco, rave shirt, puka shell wearing mallrats!?!?!

Dude, I used to work at a retail chain in the meat room. Great for avoiding customers, not so much when the radio in there not only is amplified due to the doors, but also it’s the ‘retail radio’ station that plays the EXACT SAME 300-500 songs, in almost the same order. When I’d go there to shop on my days off, earlier in the day, it was like they changed the station. Worse yet, whenever I go shopping anywhere else now, there it is.

Oh, it was all 90’s pop. With a little bit of 80’s, 70’s and current thrown in. Worse yet, it was a lot of 90’s pop songs that I’ve always hated since I was a kid.

“Though I’m not the first king of controversy
I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley, to do Black Music so selfishly
and use it to get myself wealthy (Hey)
there’s a concept that works
20 million other white rappers emerge”

As someone who had a friend that insisted Bubba Sparxx’s “Ugly” was amazing, that verse always made me laugh.

Granted I’m just a white dipshit from the country who knows dick about hip hop, but I always thought the line “some vodka that’ll jumpstart my heart quicker than a shock when I get shocked at the hospital by the doctor because I’m not cooperating, cause I’m rocking the table while he’s operating” was an incredible fractal layer cake of a rhyme, complete with a coherent visual and I find that impressive as hell.

Funny you mention all the early 2000s music but over at The AV Club this hit me as total-Forrest-Gump pandering:

“(Putting “Fortunate Son,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Sympathy For The Devil,” and “Spirit In The Sky” in the same movie has to count for some kind of record.)”

Sounds like a confused mess, perfect for irrational audiences, of which, politics has shown are at least 30% of the Republican party.

By: Vince Mancini

08.03.2016 @ 12:44 PM

There wasn’t a ton of actual early 2000s music outside of Eminem, I just meant the general tone of the movie felt very much like a Crazytown or Papa Roach song. I agree with the AV Club about the on-the-nose-ness of the actual musical choices, which is sort of what I meant by “set to Jock Jams.” They were really dumb musical choices, like Guardians of the Galaxy minus 30 IQ points, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tapping my feet throughout, which means they kind of succeeded.

This felt like a food review. Like, a good food review will make you picture more or less accurately how the experience of putting a bite in in your mouth will feel, which isn’t easy and usually takes more than simply accumulating adjectives. Then again, wheter you’ll want to eat that particular dish or not still depends on your tastes, appetite, mood and current cravings. This review took me to a weird place where I’m watching this movie and appreciating it for what it is and totally getting that rap-rock vibe… But I’m still saying no thanks. It’s a good piece anyway.

I hate fanboys who hate bad reviews on characters they ‘love’. I love blowjobs, but I’m adult enough to know a bad blowjob movie when I see one. Or at least wait until the blowjob movie comes out to defend or trash it.

Speaking of questionable Zeroes music: I can only hope that the movie ends with the Suicide Squad, the repentant bad guys, Batman and Viola Davis all doing a big choreographed dance routine while 30 Seconds to Mars takes the stage to play one of their inane screaming songs (band members dressed up as Jokers, obviously)

Question for Vince, or anyone else who’s seen it: does it work to just pretend that this is a period piece? Or is there some anachronism that would spoil it, like someone whipping out an iPhone to post a Facebook update?

Now that I’ve seen it I am baffled by the bandwagon of negativity towards it. You have to wonder what critics want or expect from a comic book movie. It’s good fun and has plenty going on visually that i really enjoyed – mostly Margot Robbie’s ass. Even the one thing I thought might suck – Jared Leto’s Joker – had a dynamism and aesthetic I liked. I loved that swan dive into the vat. I can see this being one of those movies like Blade Runner in 1982 that people just didn’t care about at the time but gets reappraised and appreciated later.